List of most overpopulated countries
Encyclopedia
This is a list of some of the most highly populated countries, continents, and regions in the world.
remains a developing nation, in part due to its large population. Its per capita income
in 2006 was US$2300, compared to the world average of $10,200. Recent (2005–2007) estimates of Bangladesh's population range from 142 to 159 million, making it the 8th most populous nation in the world. With a land area of 143,998 square kilometers (55,600 square miles, ranked 94th), the population density is remarkable. A striking comparison is offered by the fact that Russia
's population is only slightly smaller. Bangladesh boasts the highest population density
in the world, excluding a handful of microstates. Bangladesh's population growth
was among the highest in the world in the 1960s and 1970s, when the country grew from 50 to 90 million people, but with the promotion of birth control
in the 1980s, the growth rate slowed. The total fertility rate is now 3.1 children per woman, compared with 6.2 three decades ago. The population is relatively young, with the 0–25 age group comprising 60%, while 3% are 65 or older.
Bangladesh remains among the poorest nations in the world. Many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land. Nearly half of the population lives on less than 1 US$ per day.
. India is building desalination plants to solve this problem. http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=627 Because India has the same population density as Japan, some have claimed that India's poverty is caused by underdevelopment
, not overpopulation.
However, if China and India were to consume as much resources per capita as the United States together they would require two planet Earths just to sustain their two economies.
The Worldwatch Institute
said the booming economies of China and India are planetary powers that are shaping the global biosphere
. The State of the World 2006 report said the two countries' high economic growth
hid a reality of severe pollution.
and inability of the fragile tropical forest soils to provide high yield agriculture. Decades of non-sustainable agriculture
including considerable slash-and-burn activity by native peoples have left the region unable to feed or support the present population (in terms of food, drinking water
, sanitation
and other factors).
averages approximately 6098 people per square kilometre (650 per sq. mi.). Fertility rate (TFR) in Haiti is 4.86 lifetime births per woman (2007 est.). In 1925, Haiti was a lush tropical paradise, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down all but 2% of its forest cover, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, while contributing to desertification
. Haiti remains one of the least-developed countries in the Western Hemisphere
. Haiti now ranks 154th of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index
(2006). According to the CIA World Factbook, about 80% of the population lives in poverty. Haiti is the only country in the Americas on the WHO
list of Least Developed Countries
. Unemployment
staying high, rising sharply in the mid to late 90's peaking at 70% in 1999, and then decreasing to the usual rates of around 50% in recent years.
, but consume about 25% of the world's resources
, including approximately 26% of the world's energy
. The United States holds around 25% of the world’s known oil reserves and generates approximately 30% of the world’s waste
. The average American's impact on the environment
is approximately 250 times greater than the average Sub-Saharan African
's.
The energy used by other countries to produce the products that are imported into the US could be counted in addition to the 26% of the world's energy that is consumed domestically in the US. Likewise, other developed countries are also consuming additional energy in the form of that used for their imports of food or products. The US Department of Energy has made reference to this additional consumption but has not yet quantified it.
Some people, such as Julian Simon
, counter this with the claim that through innovation, science, and technology, the United States creates more resources than it uses. Likewise, in an article in The New York Times
, John Tierney said that all of the garbage produced in the United States fills up less than 10 square miles (25.9 km²) of landfill per year, and that after the landfills are full, much of that land gets turned into parks. However this view fails to take into account the energy that is lost when an item is buried instead of re-entering the materials stream.
, for example, has enormous land area, but has neither the carrying capacity of arable land or potable water to support its population. While it imports food, using its wealth to offset this shortfall, that only serves to illustrate that it has insufficient carrying capacity. The only way that Arizona (and Southern California
) obtains sufficient water is by extraction of water from the Colorado River
beyond its fair share (and beyond its own carrying capacity of innate water resources), based on international standards of fair use per lineal mile of river. Recently Arizona has considered water desalination as a way to eliminate water shortages. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0714FE3D5B0C778CDDAD0894DF404482
, if more supplies aren’t found by 2020, residents will face a shortfall nearly as great as the amount consumed today. Los Angeles
is a coastal desert able to support at most 1 million people on its own water; the Los Angeles basin now is the core of a megacity
that spans 220 miles (354.1 km) from Santa Barbara
to the Mexico–United States border. The region's population is expected to reach 22 million by 2020, 28 million in 2035, and 33 million in 2050. The population of California continues to grow by more than a half million a year and is expected to reach 48 million in 2030. Water shortage issues are likely to arise well before then. California is considering using energy-expensive water desalination to solve this problem.
Population
90,873,739 (July 2011 est.)
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
Age structure
0-14 years: 46.3% (male 20,990,369/female 21,067,961)
15-64 years: 51% (male 22,707,235/female 23,682,385)
65 years and over: 2.7% (male 1,037,488/female 1,388,301) (2011 est.)
Median age
total: 16.8 years
male: 16.5 years
female: 17.1 years (2011 est.)
Population growth rate
3.194% (2011 est.)
Birth rate
42.99 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
with resulting desertification
, water resource degradation and soil loss has affected approximately ninety percent of Madagascar
's previously biologically productive lands. Most of this loss has occurred since independence from the French, and is the result of local people trying merely to subsist. The country is currently unable to provide adequate food, fresh water and sanitation for its population.
Madagascar does not have secure property rights.
Madagascar's long isolation from the neighboring continents (it is the oldest island in the world, isolated for at least 65 million years) has resulted in a unique mix of plants and Malagasy fauna
, many found nowhere else in the world; some ecologists refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent". Unfortunately, Madagascar has lost 95% of its rainforests during the last 50 years.
Its environmental problems are caused especially by rapid population growth
. Extensive deforestation
has taken place in parts of the country. Slash-and-burn activity, locally called tavy, has occurred in the eastern and western dry forests as well as the on the central high plateau, reducing certain forest habitat
and applying pressure to some endangered species
. Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by shifting cultivators
to create short-term yields from marginal soils. When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the nutrient
-poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state. The resulting increased surface runoff
from burned lands has caused significant erosion and resulting high sedimentation to western rivers.
In addition, Madagascar's current population of 20 million is projected to increase to 46 million by 2050 and 62 million by 2100. Madagascar has a density of 33.4/km2 or 86.6 sq miles, and is ranked 171st as far as density is concerned,i.e. hardly highly populated.
cannot feed its present population of 13 million, and its population is expected to increase to 32 million in 2050, leaving the country almost certainly permanently dependent on international food aid to keep millions of its people alive.
, people cutting down trees for firewood created problems of deforestation
and desertification
. But then the country changed its economic policy, and started to allow private ownership of trees. Once the trees were treated as private property, people had an incentive to take care of them. People could thence make more money by caring for the trees and selling the fruit, instead of cutting the trees down for firewood. As a result, the deforestation was reversed, and the forest grew bigger. This happened, despite the fact that the human population was growing. By adopting property rights, the environment benefited, and the people became wealthier and better fed, even while the human population was growing.
The 2005-06 Niger food crisis
was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust
damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty. The food shortage impacts some 3.3 million people — including 800,000 children under age five — in some 3,815 villages. On January 16, 2006, the UN directed an appeal for US$ 240 million of food aid for West Africa
to feed at least 10 million people affected by the food crisis, with Niger being the worst-affected country.
Food riots
have erupted in Niger in 2008. Given the carrying capacity
of the land, Niger is one of the most overpopulated places on Earth.
In 1950, Niger had a population of just 2.5 million. Due to its high fertility (7.2 children per woman), Niger has a population of 13 million in 2008. Its population is projected to further increase to 53 million by 2050, 99 million by 2100, and 103 million by 2120.
is the most populous country in Africa. The 2006 census gave a population of 140 million and Nigeria's population is projected to increase to 293 million by 2050. According to the United Nations, Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth
and one of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. By UN projections, Nigeria will be one of the countries in the world that will account for most of the world's total population increase by 2050. Health, health care
, and general living conditions in Nigeria are poor. Life expectancy
is 47 years (average male/female) and just over half the population has access to potable water and appropriate sanitation
. Nigeria, like many developing countries, suffers from a polio crisis as well as periodic outbreaks of cholera
, malaria
, and sleeping sickness. Between 1990 and 2005, the Nigeria
lost a staggering 79% of its old-growth forests.
Nigeria is losing 1355 square miles (3,509.4 km²) of rangeland and cropland to desertification
each year. About 35 million people in northern Nigeria are currently suffering from the effects of desertification. While Nigeria’s human population was growing from 33 million in 1950 to 140 million in 2006, a fourfold expansion, its livestock
population grew from 6 million to 66 million, an 11-fold increase. With the food needs of its people and land and the forage needs of cattle, sheep and goats exceeding the carrying capacity of its grasslands, the country is slowly turning to desert and Nigeria’s fast-growing population is being squeezed into an ever-smaller area.
, desertification
, and fast population growth
exacerbate the Darfur
genocide
, because the Arab
janjaweed
and nomads seek to exterminate non-Arabs in the south as Arab nomads search for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming communities.
In addition, Sudan's current population of 39 million is projected to increase nearly twofold to 73 million by 2050.
had a population of approximately 5 million in 1950 and 7 million at independence in 1962. In 45 years, the population of Uganda has grown to 30 million. Uganda's population is projected to increase to 103 million by 2050 and 167 million by 2100, making Uganda the 12th most populated country in the world, with more people than Russia
, Japan
, Mexico
, or Egypt
. Its population will have increased 21-fold in 100 years and 34-fold in 150 years. Uganda currently has one of the fastest-growing, most fertile, and youngest populations in the world, with a population growth rate of 3.6% per year, a fertility rate of 6.8 children per woman, and a median age of 15 in 2007 according to the CIA World Factbook.
Uganda had 120 people per square km in 2005, putting it only 83rd on the List of countries by population density. This was well above the world average of 45, or the African average of 28, but not high compared to some first world countries, being only slightly over the European Union
average of 118. However, it seems clear that Uganda's problems are aggravated by underdevelopment
.
It should be noted that if developing countries were to consume resources and produce pollution at the current U.S. per-capita level, it would require several planet Earths just to sustain their economies.
seized the farmland and exiled White
and foreign farmers from the country labelling white farmers as "enemies of the state." This later resulted in severe famine. However, the population growth of Zimbabwe is lower than many other African nations https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html. Nonetheless, Zimbabwe's current population of 13 million is projected to increase by 50% to 19 million by 2050.
. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.
The average number of children per female of child bearing age is 1.52. In 2005 the EU had an overall net gain from immigration of 1.8 million people, despite having one of the highest population densities
in the world. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth
.
is 396 people per square kilometre (1,023/ sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water.
Only Bangladesh
and South Korea
are larger and more densely populated (hence have a larger population), and only Taiwan
is smaller and has a larger population (hence a larger population density). There are 21 more countries (12 independent ones and 9 dependent territories
) with a larger population density, but they all have a smaller population (hence a smaller area). If the water area is not counted then Taiwan is larger, and there are 16 more countries (9 independent ones and 7 dependent territories) with a larger population density.
As a result of these demographic characteristics the Netherlands has had to plan its land use
strictly. Since 1946 the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment has been occupied with the national coordination of land use. Because of its high population density the Netherlands has also reclaimed land from the sea
by polder
ing. Between 1927 and 1968 an entire province, Flevoland
was created.
Most new arrivals were heading for London and the South East. The latest population projections for the country indicate that in 2031, the population of Britain would be 71 million, in 2050 it would reach 90 million and by 2081 the population could be 110 million.
The first Census in 1801
revealed that the population of England
, Scotland
and Wales
was 10 million.
Bangladesh
Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, BangladeshBangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
remains a developing nation, in part due to its large population. Its per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
in 2006 was US$2300, compared to the world average of $10,200. Recent (2005–2007) estimates of Bangladesh's population range from 142 to 159 million, making it the 8th most populous nation in the world. With a land area of 143,998 square kilometers (55,600 square miles, ranked 94th), the population density is remarkable. A striking comparison is offered by the fact that Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
's population is only slightly smaller. Bangladesh boasts the highest population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
in the world, excluding a handful of microstates. Bangladesh's population growth
Population growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
was among the highest in the world in the 1960s and 1970s, when the country grew from 50 to 90 million people, but with the promotion of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
in the 1980s, the growth rate slowed. The total fertility rate is now 3.1 children per woman, compared with 6.2 three decades ago. The population is relatively young, with the 0–25 age group comprising 60%, while 3% are 65 or older.
Bangladesh remains among the poorest nations in the world. Many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land. Nearly half of the population lives on less than 1 US$ per day.
India and China
India has a significant overpopulation problem. India is experiencing major problems with declining water tables due to over-extraction beyond sustainable yieldSustainable yield
The sustainable yield of natural capital is the ecological yield that can be extracted without reducing the base of capital itself, i.e. the surplus required to maintain ecosystem services at the same or increasing level over time. This yield usually varies over time with the needs of the...
. India is building desalination plants to solve this problem. http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=627 Because India has the same population density as Japan, some have claimed that India's poverty is caused by underdevelopment
Underdevelopment
Underdevelopment is a term often used to refer to economic underdevelopment, symptoms of which include lack of access to job opportunities, health care, drinkable water, food, education and housing...
, not overpopulation.
However, if China and India were to consume as much resources per capita as the United States together they would require two planet Earths just to sustain their two economies.
The Worldwatch Institute
Worldwatch Institute
The Worldwatch Institute is a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts.-Mission:...
said the booming economies of China and India are planetary powers that are shaping the global biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
. The State of the World 2006 report said the two countries' high economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
hid a reality of severe pollution.
Petén region
This region is inhabited by mostly indigenous peoples. The resource base is stretched thin by deforestationDeforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
and inability of the fragile tropical forest soils to provide high yield agriculture. Decades of non-sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
including considerable slash-and-burn activity by native peoples have left the region unable to feed or support the present population (in terms of food, drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
, sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
and other factors).
Haiti
HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
averages approximately 6098 people per square kilometre (650 per sq. mi.). Fertility rate (TFR) in Haiti is 4.86 lifetime births per woman (2007 est.). In 1925, Haiti was a lush tropical paradise, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down all but 2% of its forest cover, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, while contributing to desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...
. Haiti remains one of the least-developed countries in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
. Haiti now ranks 154th of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
(2006). According to the CIA World Factbook, about 80% of the population lives in poverty. Haiti is the only country in the Americas on the WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
list of Least Developed Countries
Least Developed Countries
Least developed country is the name given to a country which, according to the United Nations, exhibits the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world...
. Unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
staying high, rising sharply in the mid to late 90's peaking at 70% in 1999, and then decreasing to the usual rates of around 50% in recent years.
United States
Americans constitute approximately 5% of the world's populationWorld population
The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to be billion by the United States Census Bureau...
, but consume about 25% of the world's resources
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
, including approximately 26% of the world's energy
Energy use in the United States
The United States is the 2nd largest energy consumer in terms of total use in 2010 . The U.S. ranks seventh in energy consumption per-capita after Canada and a number of small countries....
. The United States holds around 25% of the world’s known oil reserves and generates approximately 30% of the world’s waste
Waste
Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
. The average American's impact on the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
is approximately 250 times greater than the average Sub-Saharan African
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
's.
The energy used by other countries to produce the products that are imported into the US could be counted in addition to the 26% of the world's energy that is consumed domestically in the US. Likewise, other developed countries are also consuming additional energy in the form of that used for their imports of food or products. The US Department of Energy has made reference to this additional consumption but has not yet quantified it.
Some people, such as Julian Simon
Julian Lincoln Simon
Julian Lincoln Simon was a professor of business administration at the University of Maryland and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute at the time of his death, after previously serving as a longtime business professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Simon wrote many books and...
, counter this with the claim that through innovation, science, and technology, the United States creates more resources than it uses. Likewise, in an article in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, John Tierney said that all of the garbage produced in the United States fills up less than 10 square miles (25.9 km²) of landfill per year, and that after the landfills are full, much of that land gets turned into parks. However this view fails to take into account the energy that is lost when an item is buried instead of re-entering the materials stream.
Arizona
Paul Ehrlich made the point that a state or nation may have a large land area or considerable wealth (which implies, by conventional wisdom, that overpopulation should not be at play), and yet be overpopulated. The U.S. state of ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, for example, has enormous land area, but has neither the carrying capacity of arable land or potable water to support its population. While it imports food, using its wealth to offset this shortfall, that only serves to illustrate that it has insufficient carrying capacity. The only way that Arizona (and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
) obtains sufficient water is by extraction of water from the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
beyond its fair share (and beyond its own carrying capacity of innate water resources), based on international standards of fair use per lineal mile of river. Recently Arizona has considered water desalination as a way to eliminate water shortages. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0714FE3D5B0C778CDDAD0894DF404482
California
According to the California Department of Water ResourcesCalifornia Department of Water Resources
The California Department of Water Resources , is a department within the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Water Resources is responsible for the State of California's management and regulation of water usage...
, if more supplies aren’t found by 2020, residents will face a shortfall nearly as great as the amount consumed today. Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
is a coastal desert able to support at most 1 million people on its own water; the Los Angeles basin now is the core of a megacity
Megacity
A megacity is usually defined as a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density . A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge. The terms conurbation,...
that spans 220 miles (354.1 km) from Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
to the Mexico–United States border. The region's population is expected to reach 22 million by 2020, 28 million in 2035, and 33 million in 2050. The population of California continues to grow by more than a half million a year and is expected to reach 48 million in 2030. Water shortage issues are likely to arise well before then. California is considering using energy-expensive water desalination to solve this problem.
Ethiopia
EthiopiaEthiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
Population
90,873,739 (July 2011 est.)
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
Age structure
0-14 years: 46.3% (male 20,990,369/female 21,067,961)
15-64 years: 51% (male 22,707,235/female 23,682,385)
65 years and over: 2.7% (male 1,037,488/female 1,388,301) (2011 est.)
Median age
total: 16.8 years
male: 16.5 years
female: 17.1 years (2011 est.)
Population growth rate
3.194% (2011 est.)
Birth rate
42.99 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Madagascar
Massive deforestationDeforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
with resulting desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...
, water resource degradation and soil loss has affected approximately ninety percent of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
's previously biologically productive lands. Most of this loss has occurred since independence from the French, and is the result of local people trying merely to subsist. The country is currently unable to provide adequate food, fresh water and sanitation for its population.
Madagascar does not have secure property rights.
Madagascar's long isolation from the neighboring continents (it is the oldest island in the world, isolated for at least 65 million years) has resulted in a unique mix of plants and Malagasy fauna
Malagasy fauna
The fauna of Madagascar is a part of the wildlife of Madagascar.Madagascar has been an isolated island for about 70 HI million years, breaking away from Africa around 165 million years ago, then from India nearly 100 million years later...
, many found nowhere else in the world; some ecologists refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent". Unfortunately, Madagascar has lost 95% of its rainforests during the last 50 years.
Its environmental problems are caused especially by rapid population growth
Population growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
. Extensive deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
has taken place in parts of the country. Slash-and-burn activity, locally called tavy, has occurred in the eastern and western dry forests as well as the on the central high plateau, reducing certain forest habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
and applying pressure to some endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by shifting cultivators
Shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. This system often involves clearing of a piece of land followed by several years of wood harvesting or farming, until the soil loses fertility...
to create short-term yields from marginal soils. When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the nutrient
Nutrient
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy...
-poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state. The resulting increased surface runoff
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
from burned lands has caused significant erosion and resulting high sedimentation to western rivers.
In addition, Madagascar's current population of 20 million is projected to increase to 46 million by 2050 and 62 million by 2100. Madagascar has a density of 33.4/km2 or 86.6 sq miles, and is ranked 171st as far as density is concerned,i.e. hardly highly populated.
Malawi
MalawiMalawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
cannot feed its present population of 13 million, and its population is expected to increase to 32 million in 2050, leaving the country almost certainly permanently dependent on international food aid to keep millions of its people alive.
Niger
In NigerNiger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, people cutting down trees for firewood created problems of deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
and desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...
. But then the country changed its economic policy, and started to allow private ownership of trees. Once the trees were treated as private property, people had an incentive to take care of them. People could thence make more money by caring for the trees and selling the fruit, instead of cutting the trees down for firewood. As a result, the deforestation was reversed, and the forest grew bigger. This happened, despite the fact that the human population was growing. By adopting property rights, the environment benefited, and the people became wealthier and better fed, even while the human population was growing.
The 2005-06 Niger food crisis
2005-06 Niger food crisis
A severe but localized food security crisis occurred in the regions of northern Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabéri, and Zinder of Niger from 2005 to 2006. It was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty. In the affected area,...
was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust
Desert locust
Plagues of the desert locust have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia for centuries. The livelihood of at least one-tenth of the world’s human population can be affected by this voracious insect...
damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty. The food shortage impacts some 3.3 million people — including 800,000 children under age five — in some 3,815 villages. On January 16, 2006, the UN directed an appeal for US$ 240 million of food aid for West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
to feed at least 10 million people affected by the food crisis, with Niger being the worst-affected country.
Food riots
2007–2008 world food price crisis
World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008 creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject...
have erupted in Niger in 2008. Given the carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
of the land, Niger is one of the most overpopulated places on Earth.
In 1950, Niger had a population of just 2.5 million. Due to its high fertility (7.2 children per woman), Niger has a population of 13 million in 2008. Its population is projected to further increase to 53 million by 2050, 99 million by 2100, and 103 million by 2120.
Nigeria
NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
is the most populous country in Africa. The 2006 census gave a population of 140 million and Nigeria's population is projected to increase to 293 million by 2050. According to the United Nations, Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth
Population growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
and one of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. By UN projections, Nigeria will be one of the countries in the world that will account for most of the world's total population increase by 2050. Health, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, and general living conditions in Nigeria are poor. Life expectancy
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
is 47 years (average male/female) and just over half the population has access to potable water and appropriate sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
. Nigeria, like many developing countries, suffers from a polio crisis as well as periodic outbreaks of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, and sleeping sickness. Between 1990 and 2005, the Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
lost a staggering 79% of its old-growth forests.
Nigeria is losing 1355 square miles (3,509.4 km²) of rangeland and cropland to desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...
each year. About 35 million people in northern Nigeria are currently suffering from the effects of desertification. While Nigeria’s human population was growing from 33 million in 1950 to 140 million in 2006, a fourfold expansion, its livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
population grew from 6 million to 66 million, an 11-fold increase. With the food needs of its people and land and the forage needs of cattle, sheep and goats exceeding the carrying capacity of its grasslands, the country is slowly turning to desert and Nigeria’s fast-growing population is being squeezed into an ever-smaller area.
Sudan
The combination cow of decades of droughtDrought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...
, and fast population growth
Population growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
exacerbate the Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, because the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
janjaweed
Janjaweed
The Janjaweed is a blanket term used to describe mostly gunmen in Darfur, western Sudan, and now eastern Chad...
and nomads seek to exterminate non-Arabs in the south as Arab nomads search for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming communities.
In addition, Sudan's current population of 39 million is projected to increase nearly twofold to 73 million by 2050.
Uganda
UgandaUganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
had a population of approximately 5 million in 1950 and 7 million at independence in 1962. In 45 years, the population of Uganda has grown to 30 million. Uganda's population is projected to increase to 103 million by 2050 and 167 million by 2100, making Uganda the 12th most populated country in the world, with more people than Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, or Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Its population will have increased 21-fold in 100 years and 34-fold in 150 years. Uganda currently has one of the fastest-growing, most fertile, and youngest populations in the world, with a population growth rate of 3.6% per year, a fertility rate of 6.8 children per woman, and a median age of 15 in 2007 according to the CIA World Factbook.
Uganda had 120 people per square km in 2005, putting it only 83rd on the List of countries by population density. This was well above the world average of 45, or the African average of 28, but not high compared to some first world countries, being only slightly over the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
average of 118. However, it seems clear that Uganda's problems are aggravated by underdevelopment
Underdevelopment
Underdevelopment is a term often used to refer to economic underdevelopment, symptoms of which include lack of access to job opportunities, health care, drinkable water, food, education and housing...
.
It should be noted that if developing countries were to consume resources and produce pollution at the current U.S. per-capita level, it would require several planet Earths just to sustain their economies.
Zimbabwe
During the late 20th century, farmers in Zimbabwe were growing enough food to feed the country. The country also grew enough extra food for export that it was known as "the breadbasket of southern Africa." Since that time period, President Robert MugabeRobert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
seized the farmland and exiled White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
and foreign farmers from the country labelling white farmers as "enemies of the state." This later resulted in severe famine. However, the population growth of Zimbabwe is lower than many other African nations https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html. Nonetheless, Zimbabwe's current population of 13 million is projected to increase by 50% to 19 million by 2050.
Europe
Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface. The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia. It is the third most populous continent (after Asia and Africa) with a population of 728,000,000 or about 11% of the world's population. Of the continents, Europe ranks second in population density. A century ago Europe had nearly a quarter of the world's populationWorld population
The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to be billion by the United States Census Bureau...
. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.
The average number of children per female of child bearing age is 1.52. In 2005 the EU had an overall net gain from immigration of 1.8 million people, despite having one of the highest population densities
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
in the world. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth
Population growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
.
Netherlands
The population density in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
is 396 people per square kilometre (1,023/ sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water.
Only Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
are larger and more densely populated (hence have a larger population), and only Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
is smaller and has a larger population (hence a larger population density). There are 21 more countries (12 independent ones and 9 dependent territories
Dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area....
) with a larger population density, but they all have a smaller population (hence a smaller area). If the water area is not counted then Taiwan is larger, and there are 16 more countries (9 independent ones and 7 dependent territories) with a larger population density.
As a result of these demographic characteristics the Netherlands has had to plan its land use
Land management
Land management is the process of managing the use and development of land resources. Land resources are used for a variety of purposes which may include organic agriculture, reforestation, water resource management and eco-tourism projects.-See also:*Sustainable land management*Acreage...
strictly. Since 1946 the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment has been occupied with the national coordination of land use. Because of its high population density the Netherlands has also reclaimed land from the sea
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
by polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
ing. Between 1927 and 1968 an entire province, Flevoland
Flevoland
Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...
was created.
United Kingdom
The UK is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, with a population of approximately 62 million people, and a density of 246 people per square kilometer (992/sq mi). With 50,431,700 inhabitants, or 84% of the UK's total, England is the most populous nation in the United Kingdom. In 2006, an estimated 491,000 migrants arrived to live in the UK for at least a year, while 400,000 people emigrated from the UK for a year or more.Most new arrivals were heading for London and the South East. The latest population projections for the country indicate that in 2031, the population of Britain would be 71 million, in 2050 it would reach 90 million and by 2081 the population could be 110 million.
The first Census in 1801
Census Act 1800
The Census Act 1800 also known as the Population Act 1800 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which enabled the first Census of England, Scotland and Wales to be undertaken. The census was carried out in 1801 and every ten years thereafter...
revealed that the population of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
was 10 million.